Mark And Travis Of Blink 182 Gave an Interview To Rolling Stone Where They Blasted Tom, Calling Him "Ungrateful" And "Disingenuous"
Ok so let’s recap: Yesterday Mark of Blink 182 announced via press release that Tom had quit Blink 182 and Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio was taking his place. A couple hours later Tom posted a message on Instagram saying he did not quit and that it was a miscommunication and the band is just a bit dysfunctional. I predicted in that blog it was just Tom trying to save face because he didn’t want to look like an asshole. As it turned out, not only was I correct, but Mark and Travis gave an interview to Rolling Stone last night where they completely went in on Tom and called him out for being an asshole. Here are some key parts, though I recommend reading the whole thing:
Rolling Stone – We booked January 5th to go into the studio. On December 30th, we get an e-mail from Tom’s manager saying that he has no interest in recording and that he wants to do his other, non-musical stuff and that he’s out indefinitely. There’s a flurry of e-mails going back and forth for clarification about the recording and the show and his manager sends [an e-mail] back saying, “Tom. Is. Out.” Direct quote. This is the exact same e-mail we got back in 2004 when Tom went on indefinite hiatus before.
We were ready to go into the studio on January 5th. This is exactly the same sequence of events that happened when Blink broke up 10 years ago. We had things booked in advance and we get an e-mail from Tom’s manager saying, “Tom’s out indefinitely.” But last time, Travis and I took a step back and said OK and we just kept our mouths shut.
It’s hard to cover for someone who’s disrespectful and ungrateful. You don’t even have the balls to call your bandmates and tell them you’re not going to record or do anything Blink-related. You have your manager do it. Everyone should know what the story is with him and it’s been years with it. When we did get back together after my plane crash, we only got back together, I don’t know, maybe because I almost died. But he didn’t even listen to mixes or masterings from that record. He didn’t even care about it. Why Blink even got back together in the first place is questionable.
Last time this happened, Travis and I didn’t say anything and we did +44, which wasn’t Blink-182 because we weren’t playing Blink songs. But Travis and I are intent on protecting the legacy of Blink-182 and continue to do what we’ve been doing for the past two decades: continue playing the songs.
When Tom finally said, “I’m not going to go into the studio or play this show,” it was kind of a gigantic relief because at least he finally said it. But to then say, “I didn’t quit the band,” it’s just not true. It’s disingenuous.
Well damn. Do you think it’s safe to say they aren’t very happy with Tom? As I said in the first blog yesterday, it was going to happen sooner or later. Tom has become very self-centered and makes everything about himself. Seems Mark and Travis just allowed it to happen because they love Blink 182 and didn’t want to ruin the legacy. But they finally decided enough was enough. Obviously Tom immediately said he didn’t quit the band because there is a lot more money to be made when you’re in Blink 182 than when you’re not in Blink 182. Pretty lame of him to delay recording a new album for 2 years, and then back out 6 days before they were finally going to do it.
The thing is, it’s not like Mark or Travis are shocked by this, they just wish Tom wasn’t such a douche bag about the entire thing. It’s been completely obvious for a while Tom is not the same person who recorded the early CDs. He is all about Angels and Airwaves and pretending to be the most important thing to ever happen to music. But be a man about it. Travis completely put him on blast saying “You don’t even have the balls to call your bandmates and tell them you’re not going to record or do anything Blink-related. We only got back together, I don’t know, maybe because I almost died.” That’s nuts. They’ve known each other the majority of their adult lives and he’s saying you only hang out because I almost died, and even then you still don’t really care.
So yea, seems like even if Tom hasn’t quit, he’s done with the band because they won’t let him back in. It seems he’ll still make the money from any new shit Blink puts out, so it seems. I guess some good news though is no more weird, electronic, whiney Blink 182 songs.